AMD has released its Linux-based 'Hammer Sim' - a simulator that allows developers to run and debug code written for Chimpzilla's upcoming x86-64 64-bit processor technology.

SimNow! - available free from AMD's Web site - lets coders test their software on a regular 32-bit x86 CPU. AMD's Hammer family of chips, the successors to Sledgehammer, will be unveiled in full at the end of 2001. The company's 64-bit technology was first introduced this time last year as a spoiler for Intel's own 64-bit Itanic - sorry, Itanium - launch.

AMD's Hammer chips are designed to sense what kind of addressing mode x86-compatible code is written for - 32-bit or 64-bit - and handle the software accordingly.

Interestingly, SimNow! runs under Linux - CodeSourcery did the work - so you can see the audience AMD is targeting its technology at. It is, after all, a great way of ensuring that one of the key server operating systems is made ready to support Hammer CPUs come their eventual release.